News of Alumni: Chris Kilner '12

For Chris Kilner '12, his trip to Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota while at Gonzaga was a formidable experience in more ways than one.

Between his junior and senior years at Gonzaga on the summer service trips, Chris noted an area of need at Red Cloud in that there were no vegetables to be found in Lakota, SD. He had the idea that they could build a greenhouse and the kids at the school could take care of it. He even took it upon himself to fundraise for the venture.

Though Chris didn't see the idea come to fruition during his time in high school, his idea was embraced and eventually Red Cloud’s Farm to School Initiative was born.

"Access to nourishing foods is essential to sustaining a healthy community. And knowledge of traditional, indigneous methods of food production supports a deeper understanding of culture," explains the Initiative's  website. "That’s why Red Cloud has launched the first Farm to School program on the Pine Ridge Reservation."

The project was featured in the JSN Newsletter “Hemispheres." 


Chris also recently started an organization called the Woape Foundation whose mission is to empower Native American youth through educational and social justice programs. You can read more about the Woape Foundation here

Congratulations, Chris! 
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